Who are the Syrian Electronic Army?

While we’re on the topic, here’s a great article from last month by Adrianne Jeffries at The Verge on the SEA:

On May 4th, a series of odd tweets went out to the 5 million or so followers of the E! News Twitter account. “Exclusive! Justin Bieber to E! online: I’m a gay,” read the first one. Then came a tweet about Angelina Jolie commenting on the Syrian revolution, another tweet about Bieber’s homosexuality, then a triumphant admission: “The Syrian Electronic Army was here! Fans of @justinbieber, you have been trolled.”

Depending on who you listen to, they’re either an extremely sophisticated hacking team or a 4 juvenile pranksters in their early twenties.

You can’t deny their effectiveness though; their successful targets read like a who’s who of media, including Twitter, the New York Times, Associated Press, E!, CBS, NPR, the BBC and many more.